We measure the relative rate of production of orbitally excited (L=1) states of B mesons (B**) by observing their decays into Bπ±. We reconstruct B mesons through semileptonic decay channels using data collected in pp¯ collisions at s=1.8TeV. The fraction of light B mesons that are produced as L=1B** states is measured to be 0.28±0.06(stat)±0.03(syst). We also measure the collective mass of the B** states, and quantify the result by quoting the (model-dependent) mass of the lowest B** state to be m(B1)=5.71±0.02GeV/c2.
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